For Seven Months the house of Isra'el

Will Bury Them in Order to Cleanse the Land

Ezeki'el 39: 11-16

DIG: Why do you think it will take so
long to bury the dead?
Could the Jews
be fleeing for their
very lives and still have time to bury
that many dead?
When does this battle take place?

Ezeki'el first brought out how great the enemy forces were by showing how long it
took to burn their weapons. Now he underscores the same truth by emphasizing the
length of time needed to bury their dead. Through this process, the LORD will be
glorified because it will be abundantly clear to the people ofIsra'el, that the
victory was God’s doing and His alone.

On the day of Gog’s and his allies’ destruction, God will give Gog a burial
place in Isra'el. The country that they want to turn into a graveyard, will
actually become their own graveyard. The location of this graveyard for the
armies of Gog will be in the valley of those who travel east toward
the Dead Sea, or more specifically, the Jordan Valley just northeast
of the Dead Sea. The
valley will be so clogged with the corpses of Gog’s army that it will block the
way of travelers. Instead of finding all the loot that
they had wanted, they
found their graves instead.

This mass cemetery will be given a new name,
remembering God’s victory over Isra'el’s adversaries. It will be called the
Valley of Hamon Gog. The first word, Hamon, is a Hebrew word meaning
multitudes. For seven months the house of Isra'el will be burying them
in order to cleanse the Land. This is in keeping with Numbers 35:33-34.
All the people of the Land will bury them, and the day I am glorified will be a
memorable day for them, declares Adonai ELOHIM (Ezeki'el 39:11-13). Therefore, the destruction of
the
invaders will result in a new Jewish holy day. In addition to the holy days
given by Moses, the Jews have always had a tendency to add holy days to
commemorate great events. Because of the deliverance of Esther, there is now the
feast of Purim. In commemoration of the deliverance by the Maccabees, the Jews
celebrate Hanukkah or the Feast of Lights. Isra'el’s independence day is now
celebrated. So when this great army is wiped out by supernatural means, it will
become a new Jewish holy day.

Death came so suddenly to so many that it will take seven months to
bury them
all. All the facts emphasize the vast proportions of the catastrophe. There will
be a need to cleanse the Land because bloodshed defiles it (Numbers
35:33-34).139To cleanse the Land, scouts
will be regularly employed to
find hidden corpses. Some will go throughout the Land and, in addition to them;
others will bury the bodies that will be found. At the end of the seven months
they will begin their search for additional bodies. Every single
corpse must be
buried. Not one can be left to defile the Land. Many of these
corpses will fall
into various crevasses and places where they would not be easily seen. But all
the bodies missing in action will eventually be found. As the scouts go
through
the Land and one of them sees a human bone, he will set up a marker beside it
until the gravediggers have it in the Valley of Hamon Gog.Also a new Jewish
town called Hamonah, or the multitude, to commemorate the multitude of
the
armies that were destroyed there, will be in the Valley of Hamon Gog. And so
they will cleanse the Land (Ezeki'el 39:14-16). The seven months of burial is new
information, not mentioned in Chapter 38.

The most controversial question is when will this invasion take place? There
were specific scriptural clues given in the text (Ezeki'el 38:8, 11-12, and
14).
There were six specific clues. First, the invasion occurs when Isra'el is once
again a state. Secondly, it happens when Isra'el is re-gathered out of many
nations. Thirdly, the Jews will live in areas that had long been desolate.
Fourthly, the Israeli’s will be living in unwalled villages. Fifthly, Isra'el
will be living in safety. Not once in these chapters has it said that Isra'el is
living in peace, rather, it is living confidently and in security. Sixthly, all
of the descriptions of Isra'el in the text are true of present day Isra'el.

The seven months of burying and seven years of burning are crucial in
determining when the invasion will occur. For any view to be correct, it must
satisfy the requirements of these seven months and seven years.140 There are
five different views. Arnold Fruchtenbaum lays them out in his classic book Footsteps of
the Messiah.

First is the Mid-tribulation view.
It holds that this event will take place in
the middle of the Great Tribulation. Those who hold this view say that Isra'el
will be living in a time of safety right up to the time when the antichrist
reveals himself and his persecution of the Jews begins. They believe that this
invasion is the same as the invasion of the king of the north in Dani'el 11:40.
But to live in safety does not require living in peace. Why would God intervene
to save Isra'el at this point, and then immediately allow the massive persecution
of the Jews in the second half of the Great Tribulation (Matthew 24:15-28;
Revelation 12:6-17)? While the invasion of Dani'el 11:40 does happen in the
middle of the Tribulation one can only conclude that it is not the same as this
invasion. The simple reason is that in Dani'el 11:40 the king of the north is
always Syria. But more importantly there is the problem of the seven months of
burial. If this event happened in the middle of the Tribulation the
seven months
of burial would extend into the second half of the Great Tribulation, the period of
time when the Jews are fleeing Isra'el without having any time to
bury their own
dead, let alone time to bury enemy dead, or time to build a new
Jewishtown
called Hamonah. In addition, this view has a problem with the seven years of
burning. If the Russian invasion occurs in the middle of the Tribulation, the
seven years of burning would have to include the second three and a half years
of the Great Tribulation and three and a half years of the messianic Kingdom.
Therefore, the Mid-tribulation view has a problem with both the seven months of
burial and the seven years of burning.

Second is the Post-tribulation view.
It holds that the invasion will take place
at the end of the Great Tribulation. Those who hold this view say that this
invasion is the same as the campaign of Armageddon. But there are too many
differences between the two invasions. For example, in Ezeki'el only some nations
were aligned against Isra'el, and other nations opposed the invasion. But in the
campaign of Armageddon all nations, without exception, come against the Jews(Zec 12:1-4,14:1-2).

Secondly, the attack in Ezeki'el is only from the
north. But in the campaign of Armageddon it comes from the entire world, from
every direction.

Thirdly, there is a difference in purpose. In Ezeki'el, the
purpose of this invasion is to take the plunder and capture the loot. However,
the purpose of the campaign of Armageddon will be to destroy all the Jews once
and for all.

The fourth difference is the matter of opposition. In Ezeki'el 38:13
we learned that there will be other nations protesting the invasion. But in the
campaign of Armageddon there is no protesting because all the nations on the
earth come against the Jews.

Fifthly, there is a difference in the manner of
destruction. In Ezeki'el the destruction of the invading army comes by natural
and supernatural means: an earthquake, mountains will be overturned, cliffs will
crumble, city walls will fall to the ground, torrents of rain, hailstorms and
pandemonium among the invading troops. But at Armageddon the
Second Coming itself destroys the enemies of Isra'el.

Sixthly, the place of
destruction is also different. In Ezeki'el the destruction of the invaders
takes
place on the mountains of Isra'el. However, in the campaign of Armageddon the
destruction of the armies of the world is in a long stretch of territory from
Bozra, or Petra, south of the Dead Sea in present day southern Jordan, all the
way back to just outside the city of Jerusalem in the Valley of Jehoshaphat.

The
seventh point of difference involves the timing of the invasion. The Ezeki'el
invasion takes place when Isra'el is living in safety in the Land. But the
campaign of Armageddon occurs while Isra'el is in flight and hiding outside
the
Land. Furthermore, this interpretation has a problem with both the seven months
of burial and the seven years of burning. If this invasion occurs at the end of
the Great Tribulation, in conjunction with the campaign of Armageddon it would
mean that they would be burying the dead seven months into the messianic
Kingdom. That is inconsistent with what we know about Yeshua’s
messianic rule. In addition, the seven years of burning would also continue into
the messianic Kingdom and that also is inconsistent with the renovation of the
earth as described in Isaiah 65:17.
Therefore, the Post-tribulation view also has
a problem with both the seven months of burial and the seven years of burning.

Third is the Interlude view. It holds that the attack will take place in the
interlude between the Great Tribulation and the messianic Kingdom. The basis of
this position is the assumption that that there will be a period of time, or an
interlude, after the end of the Great Tribulation (and the Second Coming), and
before the messianic Kingdom is set up. But there are also objections to this
view. While it is clear from Dani'el 12:12 that there is indeed an interlude
between the end of the Great Tribulation and the start of the messianic Kingdom,
it is only seventy-five days long. Seven months of burial would be a total of
210 days and that would mean that the burial would have to continue for at least
135 days into the messianic Kingdom. That again is inconsistent with the
renovation of the earth for the Kingdom. Of course the seven years of burning
would continue well into the Kingdom, which would be contrary with the
renovation of the earth. Consequently, the Interlude view also has a problem with
both the seven months of burial and the seven years of burning.

Fourth is the end of the Messianic Kingdom view. It believes that the invasion
in Ezekiel is the same as the Gog and Magog mentioned in Revelation 20:7-9.
Indeed there is an invasion of Isra'el after the thousand years of the messianic
Kingdom by Gog and Magog. But there are two key objections. First, the Ezekiel
invasion comes from the north, whereas the Revelation invasion comes from all
over the world. Secondly, this view also fails to answer the seven months of
burial and the seven years of burning. There would be burials taking place
seven
months into the Eternal State (see Fq - The Eternal
State). Yet we read that soon after this invasion, the
earth will be destroyed. John tells us: Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth,
for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away (Revelation 21:1a). So
there would be no time (or place) for seven months of burial or seven years of
burning. We also learn that just after this invasion that all of the unsaved are
to be resurrected from the dead to stand at the great white throne judgment
(Revelation 20:11-15). Why bother spending seven months burying these
dead when
they are going to be resurrected anyway? Thus, the end of the
messianic Kingdom
view also has a problem with both the seven months of burial and the seven years
of burning. In fact, all of the first four views have the same problem. However,
the fifth view deals adequately with both of these issues.

Fifth is the Pre-tribulation view.
It believes that the invasion by Gog and Magog
happens before the Great Tribulation starts. From the text of Ezekiel 38:1 to
39:16, this view arrives at specific conclusions. First, Isra'el is established
in the Land before the Great Tribulation in security. Second, the Russian
alliance invades Isra'el during this time of security before the Tribulation.
Third, the alliance is destroyed in Isra'el sometime before the Great
Tribulation. There are three areas of support for this position.

First, the description of Isra'el found in Chapters 38 and 39 fits
Isra'el as she
now exists before the Great Tribulation. Isra'el is a nation that has recovered
from war, a people who were gathered from many nations, the mountains of Isra'el,
which had long been desolate are now inhabited, and they are living in safety
(Ezeki'el 38:8-12 and 14). Unfortunately, many people have interpreted the word
safety to mean peace. But in Chapters 38 and 39 the Hebrew word for peace,
shalom, is not used one single time. They are living in safety, but not
necessarily because of a state of peace, but living in a state of confidence in
her own strength. This is very characteristic of Isra'el today. To that end,
the
Israelites are living in unwalled villages (Ezeki'el 38:11). The kibbutzim in
Isra'el today fit this description quite well. Therefore, the description of
Isra'el found in these two chapters fits the nation as she now exists before the
Great Tribulation.

Secondly, Russia today, in spite of the fall of communism, is still a major
world power. Her rise to power coincided with the
reestablishment of Isra'el following the Second World War.
Today Russia has the military capability to launch a
military invasion of the type described by Ezeki'el.

Thirdly, this view best answers the problem of the seven months of burial and
the seven years of burning. There is time for the burials and the burning to
happen without extending into the second half of the Great Tribulation, the Interlude,
or the Eternal State. According to this view, the invasion must take place at
least three and a half years before the Great Tribulation starts.
Consequently, the pretribulational view is the only one
that has no problems with either the seven months of burial or the seven years
of burning. These are the three areas of support for this view; however, there
are three objections.

First, the most common objection is that living in safety always refers to the
thousand-year messianic Kingdom. They say that Isra'el will live in peace and
security at that time, and the messianic Kingdom is something that Isra'el will
not experience until the Great Tribulation is over with. However, this is an
overstatement. While it is true that the phrase living in safety is used of life
in the messianic Kingdom, this is true only in a few cases. Most of the time it
is not true (Leviticus 25:18-19, 26:5; Deuteronomy 12:10; First Samuel 12:11;
First Kings 4:25; Psalm 4:8, 16:9; Proverbs 1:33, 3:23 and 29; Isaiah
47:8; Jeremiah 49:31 and Zephaniah 2:15).The Jeremiah reference is very important
because it uses the same phrases that are found in Ezeki'el 38:11. This
proves that the phrase is
used more when not talking about the messianic Kingdom, than when talking about
it.

The second objection states that this view contradicts the doctrine of
imminency, or that the Lord’s return could happen at any time. However, stating
that something must precede the Great Tribulation is not the same as stating that it
must precede the Rapture unless you maintain that the Rapture begins the
Tribulation. The act that starts the Great Tribulation is not the Rapture, but the
signing of the seven-year covenant between Isra'el and the antichrist. Nothing
else. This view states that invasion will occur before the signing of the
seven-year covenant. This does not destroy any argument of imminency, because
the Rapture may still come even before the invasion of Isra'el by Russia.
Therefore, this view does not state that this invasion will occur before the
Rapture; it only asserts that the invasion by Gog and his allies will occur
before the Great Tribulation.

The third objection asks the question, “How could the Jews apostatize and sign a
seven year covenant with the antichrist so soon after they had seen revival?”
But the real question should be, “Why would that be so shocking?” This was often
true in history of the TaNaKh. There was rapid apostasy following the various
miracles of the exodus and their travels in the Sinai Desert. There was speedy
apostasy after the revivals of Hezekiah and Josiah. There was swift apostasy at
Nineveh after the city repented under the preaching of Jonah. Thus,
because this has happened before, it should not be a big shock that it would
happen again.141

As previously stated, we do not know exactly when this invasion will occur. But
when it does, it will be considered the first birth pain, whether it happens
first or not.